High-Performance Computing for Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer

The use of computers in heat transfer and fluid flow has become so commonplace today that no one would consider working in either field without some knowledge of computing. Problems are now being solved on a daily basis that even a few years ago were considered intractable. While we once thought that a problem with a few million nodes was huge a few years ago, researchers are now addressing problems with over 100 million nodes. At such levels of detail, one can begin to model processes at the micro level of physics. When researchers are able to quickly analyze these gigantic data sets and can generate insightful graphical displays, the understanding of fundamental processes and governing relations will escalate tremendously.